AdventSample

The peaceful kingdom

As the year ends, the advent season seems to fast-track us toward Christmas. School wraps up, workplaces celebrate a year that was, and then it’s the final sprint before everything slows down. The Christmas season brings joy and connection – but also pressure, fatigue and reflection. It also stirs up thoughts about the year gone by – that began with good intentions but was quickly thrown off course. Some detours are outside our control – a medical diagnosis, financial strain, relationship shifts. Then there are the quiet dreams still unfulfilled. Those deep desires we’ve carried with God that haven’t come to pass. Yet the word ‘advent’ is derived from a Latin word that means ‘coming’. In this case, the coming birth of Jesus Christ, then His return.

Isaiah gives us a surprising image of hope: a shoot growing from a stump. Jesse’s family tree – David’s royal line – had been reduced to a lifeless stump. Kingdoms had fallen and God’s people were weary. And yet, from what seemed dead, God promised new life. That small shoot is Jesus – the Messiah born in a stable, growing quietly in obscurity before changing the world. Isaiah’s prophecy reveals the kind of king Jesus would be: filled with wisdom, understanding, counsel and might, yet delighting not in power but in righteousness and faithfulness. We live in a noisy, anxious world where hope can seem like a ‘not yet’ dream. But Isaiah reminds us that God is not done. Even when we see only stumps, He is growing something beautiful underneath. Advent invites us to trust in that quiet growth – to wait and to believe that peace is coming, even now. The Prince of Peace has come – and He is coming again.

Written by BRENDAN JAENSCH